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SANDY — Hundreds of families learned about safety and resources for children during Safe Kids Salt Lake County's annual SafeUT Safe Kids Fair.
This year marked Safe Kids Salt Lake County's 25th year of helping parents and children learn how to be safe at home, school and in the community through the Safe Kids Fair. Safe Kids Salt Lake County — a coalition led by Salt Lake County Health Department dedicated to promoting safety education — collaborated with iHeartMedia and SafeUT to host this safety-themed event aimed at empowering parents and children.
The Mountain American Expo Center's hall was filled with 100 vendors of school resources, health care companies, police departments, firefighters, swim schools, animal services and behavioral services. Children learned and participated in hands-on activities about safety with water, fire, police, roads, car seats, railroads, bikes, animals and more.
Children got to explore police cars, school buses, a fire truck and even a Utah Highway Patrol car crash simulator at the fair. There were also live performances by local dance groups and a "spider-sense" demonstration from a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
"We're here to teach kids and to give parents resources to prevent unintentional injuries of children," said May Romo from Safe Kids Salt Lake County. "I think the biggest takeaway is that families become aware that injuries can happen in any second."
The fair focused on the importance of transportation safety, wearing properly fitted car seats and helmets, connecting parents with health resources and even offered COVID-19 and flu shots.
Unified Fire spokesman Kelly Bird thought this fair was a great opportunity to teach children fire safety. Children learned how to do CPR and took pictures in firefighter outfits by the fire truck.
"We hear things and we learn things and we always forget them. So we want to do repetition and we want to make sure we are giving as much exposure as we possibly can about ways they can be safe and this is a perfect environment to do that," Bird said.
Big Blue Swim School had a booth at the fair to teach about water safety and why it's so beneficial to teach children how to swim.
Owner Brittany Groesbeck founded the swim school after witnessing a drowning at a pool. She didn't want it to happen to anyone else and started the school specializing in year-round lessons teaching children age 3 months to 12 years old.
"It's a huge issue we are trying to help solve," Groesbeck said, adding that drowning is a leading cause of death for children. She referenced a CDC report that found formal swim lessons decrease the risk of drowning by about 88% for children under 4.
"We want to teach them the skills so that they can be safe," Groesbeck said. "It is extremely important that kids know how to get to the edge of pool, to get out of the water and how to be safe."
Ryan Degrey with Salt Lake County Animal Services was teaching kids at the fair about animal safety, how to find microchips in animals and what to do if they come across a stray animal.
The biggest part of animal safety is to prevent bites. "The biggest thing when it comes to kids and animals is they are shorter, so their face is closer to the animal's face," Degrey said.
If an animal gets scared and bites a child, a bite on the face is more traumatizing to a kid than a bite somewhere else would be. Teaching animal safety ensures both the animals and children are able to feel safe and develop healthy relationships, Degrey said.
"We are hoping children are learning to be more conscious and aware as to what could be unsafe and that they practice safety measures," Romo said. "A smart kid is a safe kid and a safe kid is a smart kid."